Zika Virus Causes CDC to Issue Travel Warning For Pregnant Women
A travel warning from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) should have pregnant woman in the Hudson Valley rethinking their winter getaway.
The CDC is issuing a travel warning for pregnant women in light of an outbreak of the Zika virus. The CDC is advising women who are pregnant to avoid traveling to 14 countries in Latin American and the Caribbean, including Mexico, Puerto Rico and Haiti.
The Zika virus is a mosquito-borne-virus which has been linked to birth defects. According to the CDC, the Zika virus can be spread from a pregnant woman to her unborn baby in the womb. The mosquito-borne virus is linked to a birth defect called microcephaly, which can cause babies to be born with tiny heads or brains.
The CDC travel warning includes Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela and Puerto Rico.
On Sunday, The CDC confirmed a baby was born in Hawaii with microcephaly tested positive for the Zika virus. It's the first reported newborn born in the United States to be linked to the infection. Health officials believe the babies mother was infected with the Zika virus while living in Brazil in May 2015.
In the past four months there has been over 3,500 microcephaly cases reported in Brazil. Some of the affected infants have had severe birth defects while others have died.
The CDC says about one in five infected with Zika will get sick. The illness is typically mild and many don’t realize they’ve been infected. The most common symptoms are fever, rash, joint pain, or red eyes. After being bitten by an infected mosquito it typically takes 2 to 7 days for symptoms to begin.
For more information on the Zika virus click here.